Marfa Texas is the Place for Alice in Wonderland Adventures
If your idea of Wonderland has more to do with modern art and mysterious paranormal phenomena than with talking playing cards playing croquet with live flamingos, then perhaps Marfa, Texas is the place for you. The world-class museums, the thriving community of contemporary artists and the appearances of the ghost lights all make Marfa a fascinating place to visit.
West Texas has plenty of rabbit holes, but don’t bother looking down them. The little town of Marfa Texas is the place for Alice in Wonderland adventures. You need not follow a white rabbit to find Marfa, only US 90. What you will find in this tiny desert town, though, seems as unexpected as the landscape of Lewis Carroll’s books.
Marfa, set in the Chihuahuan desert, started out as a watering station on the Texas and New Orleans Railroad. For many years its economy was based on cattle ranching and its greatest claims to fame was its use as the setting for movies like “No Country for Old Men” and “Giant” and the Marfa Ghost Lights visible from points east of town along US 67. Then, in 1973, Donald Judd came to town and set Marfa on the road to a very different future.
Judd was a New York artist famous for the stark simplicity of his large-scale installations. His arrival in Marfa heralded the birth of an artistic community still vibrantly alive today. A part of Judd’s property is now the Chinanti Foundation, one of Marfa’s museums.
The incoming stream of artists continues to this day. Marfa’s plethora of galleries and museums are filled with their work. Places like Ballroom Marfa, Chinanti Foundation, the Judd Foundation and the International Women’s foundation feature traveling exhibits as well as the work of the transplanted locals.
Marfa’s Wonderland even has an Alice, or at least an Alyce. New Jersey native Alyce Santoro now calls Marfa home. A recovering marine biologist, Santoro produces multimedia art focused on the intersection of science and art from a studio in a renovated school bus. Other current Marfa artists include film maker Karen Bernstein and photographer LeAna Clifton.
As for the Marfa Ghost Lights, they are still there out Highway 67, and some people still believe their nature is paranormal. Others believe that they are only atmospheric reflections of light sources on the ground like campfires and headlights. If you’d like to check them out for yourself, try the viewing platform beside the highway.
Marfa may not be the place for little girls looking for a theme park atmosphere, but it is full of wonder nonetheless. From the intellectual stimulation of the artwork to the wonder of the Ghost lights, Marfa has something to speak to every part of your mind. If you want to be as amazed and delighted as a Lewis Carroll character, Marfa Texas is the place for Alice in Wonderland adventures.